Galactic Nexus/Episode 12: For One Cause
For One Cause is the twelfth episode of the first season of Galactic Nexus. Story so far "As inscribed in the prophecy, a young man named Frisch Celerent walks on a path where the future of being the ruler of time and space, the Harvester, awaits him. Ishvati finally had woken up from unconsciousness but evidently he was still exhausted. Julia and my host did some effort to keep him from battle for now until he recovers. Just before Verzleinir left, however, he left instructions to the Mobians... but why? Why would an enemy give them what seemed to be the best course of action they could do right now? His way of thinking baffles me—as expected of a Phage. Meanwhile, Master Altus and his brother went out of the camp as if to meet the assassin of the skies. Are they trying to have him aboard? Such marks the eleventh page of the history of the Harvester in another realm." — Irissia Roleplay "... It is a pleasure. I am Frisch Celerent." "Name's Heiz Celerent," Heiz introduced himself after his older brother. "Ah, you two are brothers eh? Nothing beats a good sibling bond," Romar said with a little laugh. "Now if ain't too much to ask, I'd like to know where the hell I am. I assume you two live here or something like that. Either way you probably know more than I do." "We're on Mobius," Heiz answered. "And no, we don't live here—we're actually from Crystialga. Dunno if you've heard of it before." "I have not heard of either of those places before, so... yeah I'm pretty much lost." "... We've been sent here due to the same anomaly that had been investigated by the researchers we stopped," Frisch added. "An anomaly? Hm... say, could that be the reason why censor keeps disappearing before I got here?" "... You could say that. How did you end up here anyway?" "Well that's the thing, I don't know so much myself. I was flying my jet around during a search and rescue operation as a favor for someone, and before I know it I'm suddenly on Mobius." "He got dragged with us here at a different timeframe? That means he's transported here after us." "... Search and rescue operation?" "Yeah. Turns out some parts of a ship's crew belonging to the Wandering Juries just disappeared, along with their captain. By any chance have you seen them? Would make my job a lot easier." "..." Frisch paused for a while. After all, he has no knowledge about the fleet. But there was one thing he noticed—the rather foreign attire Romar was donning. Somehow it reminded him of a certain someone. But who exactly? "... We know nothing. But I can infer something related to what you're referring to." Heiz raised an eyebrow, catching on, though unsure. "Frisch, do you think...?" Romar would simply wait for Frisch to say something, only to hear the opposite thing he wanted to hear... at least it seemed like it. What was this "something" he wondered though. Overhearing Heiz only made him wonder more. "Alright, so what is it then?" "... Julia," Frisch simply said. "Called it," Heiz agreed. "Similar garments." Romar's eyebrows had raised almost immediately upon hearing that name. Soon, a grin formed on his face. "Ah, so you have found the captain! Thank the gods, that's one thing off the list," he said. So he did know Julia... kind of explained why she knew him in a way. "And you're meant to rescue her, right?" Heiz asked. "Though we're kinda in a pickle right now. We've been attacked again, but by a different enemy." "Search and rescue, yeah. Though kinda can't do the rescuing if I don't know where the fleets are," Romar answered. "Attacked? Ah, you mean those flying hordes of... whatever those were, angels I think?" "Yeah, but thanks to her and one of our comrades, they managed to easily keep them at bay." "I noticed that, fine work on their part. So you've found her, but what about the crew that disappeared with her? Anything on that?" "... We had no idea that she mans a ship crew until you mentioned," Frisch answered. "... Which means we have no information on their whereabouts... But we surely know why they disappeared." "Ah, damn it... well, better than nothing, I suppose. Care to tell me where she is? Rather keep an eye on her so I don't get chewed out by Lar'," he said. "Lar?" Setting that small thought aside, he nodded to Romar's request. "... Will do. Please follow us." With that said, Frisch began to walk his way back to the camp as Heiz joined by his side. "Alright, lead the way m'good man." Once Frisch and Heiz made their way to the camp, Romar followed behind them. And so, with the guards just sort of blocking his way... The lupine Mobian casually vaulted over one soldier's shoulder before using him as a springboard; casually laughing his ass off while he continued his casual run towards Freedom HQ. "Madlads man! Madlads!" Darkstorm patrols the area alone keeping Scythe (his angel blade) at his side. He would have little time to react as a white and blue streaked blur of sorts wound up vaulting over his shoulders and moving on, likely being chased by some of the security around the campgrounds. As that was going on, Seele was inside the big tent with Ishvati and Julia. She tilted her head to the side out of boredom. Looks like she was waiting for Frisch and Heiz to return—she had to do something with them as soon as possible. Though when she sensed friendlies approaching the room, she raised an eyebrow. She expected the Celerent brothers to return at that very moment, but no. It was someone else, and they were not alone. Jack, Patricia & Layla enter inside the tent quietly while Layla asked the two "Seele? Julia? May we please come in? We've got something to say. Hope it's not a bad time." "Hu-Huh? O-Oh, he-hello there," Julia greeted the three when they entered. "Su-Sure, I-I-I don't mind if Se-Seele doesn't..." she added. "Oh, it's you guys," Seele noted. "Right now's not a bad time; we're waiting for Frisch and Heiz to return anyway." Jack, Patricia & Layla sit down gently while Patricia sadly said "I see. Anyway, we are here because we want to make it up to you two for the mistakes we've made earlier. We're very sorry for what happened earlier against Locar. We realized now that we all have to work together to stay alive & protect all dimensions. Meaning, we will be more focused on the upcoming battles for you two & for the entire group." "We just hope you understand & accept our apology. Hopefully there is something we can do help make it up to you two." said Jack while the three hoping that Seele & Julia will accept their apology & that there is a way they can make amends. "I appreciate that but I think Frisch deserves it better, not me," Seele answered. "I'm just supporting him anyway." "U-Um... I-I-It's alright... I-I guess. I-I mean, I-I'm not sure wh-what happened... I-I wasn't paying attention... bu-bu-but I appreciate the th-thought anyway!" Julia gave the three Mobians a slight and shyly nervous smile. Seele raised an eyebrow, gazing towards the entrance of the tent. Her face lightened up as she expected them to return now. "And speak of the devil, they're here." It was Frisch and Heiz walking in with company—a man named Romar. "...? What's with the gathering?" Frisch asked, evidently curious of what is currently transpiring at the moment. "Welcome back!" Seele perked up, though minding the volume of her voice so as to not disturb Ishvati. "The anthropomorphs wanted to apologize to you." Frisch raised an eyebrow as he directed his attention to them. "Hi Frisch, we wanted to say that we're sorry for our previous encounter with Locar. We wanted to make it up to you & your friends for the mistakes we've made. With the new powerful threat on the horizon, we all have to work together to stay alive to protect all dimensions, including ours. We believe that we can try our best to focus on our upcoming battles in the future." Said Jack who he, Patricia & Layla wanted to apologize to Frisch for their mistakes. "We also hope that you would also accept our apology, please?" said Layla, as she, Patricia & Jack were hoping that Frisch would accept their apology. Frisch promptly gave a nod, knowing what this was all about. "... Accepted," he answered subsequently. "... We need unity to defeat Reginull, after all. Part of it is setting our differences aside and fight for the same cause." "Right. Thank you." said Patricia, who smiles a bit more with Jack & Layla, knowing that they are ready to help in unity. "... Anytime." "Julia, someone's looking for you," Heiz called to her. Julia's brows raised a bit when she heard Heiz, standing up from her chair and walked towards him. "So-Someone's looking for me? Wh-Wh-Who's looking for-" And then she stopped in place, seeing the tall man that was Romar walk in the tent. Immediately their eyes met, though Julia's were a little widened as she was surprised. "U-Uh... u-um... h-hi Romar..." she said, looking a little relieved to finally see a familiar face. "Sup. Looks like we're both gonna give our relatives a scare, eh?" Romar would say with a bit of a laugh. "Ye-Yeah... I-I guess..." Julia replied, hugging her arm nervously. Now she looked a little worried. As it turns out, Ishvati was still resting in the hospital bed; though likely he would awaken soon. Trying to get up once again purely because he does not like sitting or laying still. "Anyway, now that you're here, Frisch," Seele called for him. "It is time for a giant step towards defeating Reginull—gathering the rest of our comrades here." "...? Do you sense their presence on this planet now?" "Yes, but it's just because some of them are awake now. I can recall everyone to me whenever they might be, but I think we need a bit more time until Reginull arrives. After all, doing this needs a lot of Prismion count, especially with their current distance from me and the possibility that they might have been scattered on the globe. If they were clustered, it would have made my job somewhat easier since their coordinates would be close to each other. But darn, they might not be." "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll have them before she even gets to lay a foot on this planet," Heiz hoped. "But the question is... who's awake, you said?" "Meera and Kenzeid. They seem to be situated in some sort of... Hmm..." Seele closed her eyes for a short while, hinting that she was pinpointing their exact coordinates through her astral powers. When she finished, of course she opened the windows of her wispy soul. "They seem to be in the outskirts of a ghost city," she noted. "What's this location called anyway?" "We have no clue. There are other ghost city locations like Eggman's abandoned Pyramid Base. Hang Castle & Mystic Mansion since Sonic & the other heroes & Freedom Fighters did told us about these spooky places long ago." Said Jack, while remember on the warning about Hang Castle & Mystic Mansion. "Thou, if it's neither one of these spooky locations, then where?" asked Layla, wondering on what the spooky location could be. "They're spooky...?" Seele peered back into Meera's and Kenzeid's whereabouts. They seemed to be on top of a skyscraper, in search of civilization from a bird's-eye view. It was somewhat dim due to the cloudy skies in the location. Though while it is not normal for cities to be abandoned like this, it did not seem spooky. "I'm just gonna assume they haven't seen this before," Seele assumed in her thoughts. "Doesn't look like any of the mentioned locations to me. No pyramids, castles or mansions of any sort." "... I see," Frisch noted. "... Doesn't change what needs to be done." "Are we gonna train?" Heiz asked, enthused. "'Cause that's exactly what we need right now." "... Undoubtedly. We train while we wait for reinforcements to wake up. Seele and Irissia will recall them here if they're all active." "Uh, Frisch? Before that... could we all eat first? Honestly, I'm getting hungry. The energy bar saved me for just a short while. And I'm sure everyone has to eat too." "You guys can go ahead," Seele informed them. "I'll be fasting for now so that Irissia and I can concentrate on meditation for the next several hours." "We'll just leave you something to eat after your job then." "Nice, thanks!" After the rather short reunion Julia and Romar had, things between them just fell silent and a little awkward. Huh... would've thought something more could've happened here. Oh well. When Julia overheard Heiz and the others with the topic of training, a realization came to her. "O-Oh, th-that's right! U-Um... I-I-I still need to w-work on those au-automatons..." Julia said. "Automatons? What Automatons?" Romar asked with a raised eyebrow, looking at Julia. "U-Um... ju-ju-just some of those ro-robots I took over..." Julia answered, shyly glancing back at him. "...Ooooh, you mean the robots that attacked me earlier! You're actually gonna make use of those things? I mean... whatever you have in mind for them is probably a lot better than what they had. They really sucked," Romar commented. However, upon hearing what Julia said, Jack responds "Excuse me, can we have a teeny little timeout here, please? Who are these automatons are you referring to & what exactly do they look like?" "U-Um-..." Julia was about to say something, before she was cut off. "... I can answer that for you," Frisch took the initiative for Julia's sake. "... We have controlled a battalion of them. They once belonged to a group of researchers who were investigating the anomalies. The leader is some one-eyed alien in a weird outfit." This? Before they could ask about that though, he held a canister with his left hand—a tube filled with residual energy once collected by Doctor EggPlankton's team. "... Remember this?" "You mean Dr. EggPlankton?!" said Jack while is surprised that EggPlankton is also here investigating the situation. "I'm surprised that you easily beaten him & his team of researchers. But that's what got me puzzled. Why would they be investigating these anomalies?" asked Layla, while she, Jack & Patricia, wondering why is EggPlankton investigating anomalies. "I'm not sure. It's either that he's using the anomalies for some evil purpose, or figuring out a way how to stop an even greater evil, like the Hollow Empress. Either way, I think this anomaly sample that you have collected must've been a big help to our cause all along. But we can never be too sure on what he's thinking." said Patricia, knowing that EggPlankton is the one to play it safe. "...Wh-Wha…?" Julia muttered to herself, seeming a bit confused. She was actually wondering how they were so surprised that they beat EggPlankton so easily. Did they forget what she did in the base? If it weren't for Frisch and Seele, they probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Regardless, she decided to keep her mouth shut, out of nervousness and fear of offending them. Romar, on the other hand, didn't seem to care. In fact, he found their response a bit funny. "Pffft, seriously? I don't see why, they couldn't even take me and my jet down even when I'm outnumbered something to one—I was probably outgunned too," he said. "Doesn't look like they're strong enough but sure," Seele made a snark sprinkled with ridicule towards their enemies. Well, she has a point—it could be seen in their faces that they were scared of them, especially towards Frisch, whose mere presence in the raiment of the Harvester was enough to instill fear into their hearts. "... We merely made a plan of subterfuge to ensure our victory, but we digress..." Frisch explained briefly. "... While we await reinforcements, we will shaping you into better warriors in body, mind, and soul. Julia here will be facilitating the automatons for utility and support." "...O-Oh, th-that's right! I-I-I still have to d-do that... u-um... I-I'll start right away!" Julia said, seeming eager to work on the automatons under her command. Was kind of uplifting in a way to see her like that really. "Right, we'll worry about EggPlankton later." said Layla, while she, Patricia & Jack get themselves ready for their training with the group. "Let's worry about getting food first. I'll be right back!" Heiz suggested, heading out of the tent to probably hunt for meat for barbecue later. "...A-Actually, um... th-that does sound ki-kind of nice ri-ri-right about now... I-I-I haven't ate si-since I got here..." Julia chimed in after Heiz left, wanting to join the others for food. "I agree. Let us cook some lunch together. Maybe there might be some recipes we should try out." said Patricia as she, Jack & Layla also join the group with Frisch, Seele, Julia, Darkstorm, Blaze THC & the others. "Come on Darkstorm, it's time for lunch." said Jack as he checks for any recipes for lunch that would like to try out, while Patricia & Layla helps out on setting up the dining tables. Darkstorm nods his head and joins them for lunch trying to wrap his head around the recent events. Looks like he had returned after Mars vaulted past him. "... I surmise Heiz will be making barbecue when he comes back," Frisch noted. "... Perhaps I could make some good ol' pilaf too..." "That would be very nice. We can help wash the fruits & veggies for a nice salad, if you like?" asked Jack while he, Patricia & Layla wash their hands first before they get to washing the fruits & vegetables to make a nice salad to go with the nice barbecue meat. Darkstorm rubs his head with a slight case of Vertigo "Ba-Barbecue?" Julia overheard Frisch. "U-Um... h-he won't be making ri-ribs, right? I-I mean... I-I-I'll still eat them, bu-bu-but I think they're me-messy with the s-sauce..." she said. Someone doesn't like getting their hands dirty it seems... which is kind of ironic, considering she wears fingerless gloves and she practically makes a hobby out of machines - at least that was what was implied anyway. Darkstorm looks to Julia and chuckles at the heaping helping of irony. "... If you're worried about that, you can eat barbecue without the sauce," Frisch replied, mentally noting the peculiarity he noticed from her. Regardless, he went to work on the pilaf he suggested to make for the group. Bakuu sits nearby sharpening his sword taking the occasional bite but far more invested in his sword. Patricia, Layla & Jack also help in serving the delicious healthy fruit salads & vegetables to the group as Patricia said "Here you go everyone. Some very nice healthy salads along with fruits & vegetables. We hope you like it." Teniahk chows down as if she hadn't eating in weeks and with her mouth full says, "This is better than Serpentan food. At least it doesn't squirm when you go to eat it." Tosha squirms and gags from the memory of being a prisoner of war. "We're very glad that you're enjoying our delicious meals. We have been taking a couple cooking lessons." Said Layla as she, Patricia & Jack smile, knowing that they are enjoying their delicious meals. Ishvati, who had been absent for a while due to his solitary nature, chose to rejoin the group to grab some grub; trying his best to just grab some food and avoid being drawn into any unnecessary conversations with the others. Bakuu eyes him warily but continues his work. The savory smell of the pilaf being cooked in a large pot effused within the tent. It's not ready yet but it probably halfway is. And just in time for meat—Heiz had just arrived, with slabs of venison in gauntlets. He's fast. "Got me some meat. Is there a grill in here? I'll be cooking these for our barbecue." Darkstorm looks at Heiz, "I do not believe so but I can make a small fire pit and grab some Dragon stones to keep a fire going." "Nice, thanks!" Bakuu would likely get an intense stare back from Ishvati; who seemed to be little interested in making any friends at the moment. Silently chewing on his meat as he returned Bakuu’s untrusting stare with one of his own. Bakuu takes a blood-red pill during his meal with a shudder. Anyone here